Leaders of the four provincial-level regions in the Yangtze River Delta reached a consensus on the further promotion of green and integrated development in the delta region at a symposium held Monday and Tuesday in Hefei city, capital of east China’s Anhui Province.

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The leaders reviewed and adopted the Work Plan for the Yangtze River Delta Regional Integrated Development in 2023 and the To-Do-List of Key Cooperation Matters for the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta Region in 2022, according to the statement.

The provincial leaders conducted discussions on strengthening high level technological self-reliance and self-improvement, accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system, promoting high-level opening up to the outside world, practicing the concept of green development, steadfastly improving people"s well-being, promoting regional coordinated development, strengthening institutional reform and innovation integration, and improving multi-level and multi-disciplinary promotion mechanisms, the statement said.

Clarifications were made on a number of major to-do-lists to jointly promote the higher-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta at present and in the future, according to the statement.

Promoting the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta is a major national strategy personally planned, deployed and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping, said the statement.

2023 is the beginning year for the comprehensive implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and also a crucial year for the implementation of the 14th Five Year Plan to connect the past and the future, according to the statement.

Embarking on the new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has placed high hopes on the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, requiring the Yangtze River Delta to take the lead in basically realizing modernization, and endow the Yangtze River Delta with the mission of the times to be the pilot, and demonstration, according to the statement.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui will resolutely implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee, efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, consolidate and optimize the joint prevention and control mechanism of the epidemic in the Yangtze River Delta, and continue to strengthen the information exchange and interconnection in the Yangtze River Delta region and the response to major epidemics, jointly promote the construction of the emergency response system for major public health emergencies in the Yangtze River Delta region, and accelerate innovation-oriented breakthroughs in vaccines and drugs, said the statement.

Efforts must be made to enhance international competitiveness, promote high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and coordinated industrial development, accelerate the construction of comprehensive national science centers in Zhangjiang of Shanghai and Hefei of Anhui, promote the opening and coordination of national laboratories, strengthen national strategic scientific and technological strength, launch the joint research plan of the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community and jointly promote the construction of new R&D institutions such as the National Technology Innovation Center in the Yangtze River Delta, the statement said.

Efforts will be made to speed up the demonstration and application of major technological innovation breakthroughs, solidly promote the construction of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor and the industrial innovation belt along the Shanghai-Nanjing route, jointly advance key core technologies, strengthen the coordinated layout of strategic frontier areas, implement major projects, give full play to their comparative advantages, and seize the commanding heights of future development, said the statement.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui will accelerate the promotion of industrial chain reinforcement actions, deepen and improve the cross-regional coordination mechanism of the industrial chain and supply chain, and jointly create a strategic emerging industry cluster with international competitiveness, according to the statement.

The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta must start with major projects, continue to improve the level of regional infrastructure services, promote the construction of several major rail transit projects, explore the integrated operation and management mode of cross-regional intercity railways, build world-class port clusters and airport clusters, continuously improve the accessibility of inter-provincial highways, and build a regional intelligent transportation demonstration network, said the statement.

The four provincial-level regions will promote the layout of new digital infrastructure and joint innovative applications including 5G, industrial Internet, and data centers with high standards, start the construction of national hub nodes in the Yangtze River Delta, a national integrated computing power network, and accelerate the cultivation of regional data element markets, according to the statement.

The Yangtze River Delta will go all out to continuously optimize the business environment, create a new highland for reform and opening up, speed up the construction of regional market integration, promote the smooth flow of commodity elements and resources on a larger scale, jointly build a high-level Hongqiao International Open Hub, and jointly organize the fifth China International Import Expo, the statement said.

All-out efforts will be made to deepen institutional innovation and industrial development cooperation by relying on the Yangtze River Delta Pilot Free Trade Zone Alliance, said the statement.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui will make greater efforts to implement the concept of green development, jointly build a green and beautiful Yangtze River Delta, strengthen the ecological protection of the Yangtze River and a new round of comprehensive cleanup of the Taihu Lake water environment, continue to work together to carry out the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River, and jointly explore the inter-provincial ecological protection compensation mechanism in the Taihu Lake Basin, and further improve the ecological environment information sharing mechanism in the Yangtze River Delta, the statement said.

The Yangtze River Delta will also continue to promote the co-construction, sharing and facilitation of public services, strive to build a happy and harmonious Yangtze River Delta, promote the integration of medical insurance, unify the cross-regional drug catalog, continue to improve government services, and deepen the development of digital scenarios, the statement said.

Driven by the Yangtze River Delta Eco-Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui will form more development highlights and institutional innovation achievements by focusing on key areas and key links, and carrying out more systematic and integrated reform exploration, the statement said.

The 2024 Yangtze River Delta Leadership Symposium will be held in Anhui.